Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the lemons in half.
Put the sugar in a pitcher and squeeze the lemon juice over it.
Cut the lemon halves into thin slices and add them to the pitcher.
Mix and serve
Stir well and let the mixture sit for a while.
Add the water and pounded ice, then stir again vigorously.
Serve immediately.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Provide the sharp acidity and bright aroma that define the drink.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and balances its sourness.
- Pounded ice
- Chills the drink and dilutes it slowly as it melts.
The step that matters
Stir well and let the mixture sit. Sugar dissolves into the lemon juice and syrup forms before the water is added. Stirring and resting lets the sugar dissolve fully, so the drink tastes evenly sweet rather than gritty or sweet only at the bottom.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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